The COWLED, or BROWN VULTURE (_Vultur cinereus_), as the European member
of this group is called, is forty-one inches and a half long, and
eighty-five broad; the wing measures twenty-nine, and the tail fifteen
inches. The female is from one inch and a half longer, and from two to
three inches broader than her mate. The plumage of this bird is of an
uniform dark brown; the beak is marked towards the centre with red or
violet, and the bare places on the throat with grey. The plumage of the
young is glossier and darker than that of the adults, and the downy
feathers on the top of the head are dirty whitish brown.
The Brown Vulture lives and breeds throughout all the most southern
countries of Europe, and is met with in Africa in the regions around the
Atlas Mountains. In Asia it is becoming extremely numerous, owing, it
is supposed, to the rapid spread of disease amongst the cattle, whose
carcases afford it a constant supply of food. The movements of this
species are distinguished by a dignity that is very unusual amongst the
Vultures. Its eye is fiery and intelligent, its bearing much like that of
the Eagle, and its entire demeanour calm and almost majestic. Even when
feeding, it exhibits none of the haste and violence observable in the
Goose Vultures. Its principal food appears to be carrion, but it rarely
touches the entrails, usually contenting itself with eating the flesh and
swallowing the bones of the prey, which, we are told on good authority,
it sometimes kills. Unlike those species above described, the Brown
Vulture builds exclusively upon trees; its nest is large, and formed of
thick boughs and small branches, the flat interior being lined with thin
dry twigs. The one white coarse-shelled egg that constitutes the brood in
size resembles that of the Goose. Both parents tend their offspring with
great care, and feed it upon flesh for four months, as until that time
it is unable to fly. Attempts to render this bird tractable in captivity
usually prove fruitless, but instances have been lately known in which
the Brown Vulture has been made so tame as to run about a farm-yard on
excellent terms with its inhabitants, and to allow children to play with
it.
[Illustration: THE TAWNY GOOSE VULTURE (_Gyps fulvus_).]